]]>A Russian Rokot launch vehicle – with a Briz-KM Upper Stage – has successfully launched from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia, carrying three Rodnik satellites along with potentially another – as yet unnamed – bird. The launch took place at 22:00 UTC on Wednesday.

Launch Overview:

This Russian launch system is tailored to payloads requiring a performance of at least 1,950 kg for launches into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The three-stage liquid fuelled rocket has dedicated launch facilities at Plesetsk Cosmodrome under the control of Eurockot.

Rokot – also referred to as “Rockot” – is a fully operational, three stage, liquid propellant Russian launch vehicle which is being offered commercially by Eurockot Launch Services for launches into low earth orbit. The German-Russian joint venture company was formed specifically to offer this vehicle commercially.

The Rokot launch vehicle uses the SS-19/(RS-18) Stiletto ICBM for its first two stages.

The SS-19, which was originally developed as the Russian UR-100N ICBM series, was designed between 1964 and 1975. Over 360 SS-19 ICBMs were manufactured during the 70s and 80s.

The Breeze-KM third stage uses a re-startable storable liquid propellant engine that has been used in many other Soviet space projects.

The booster unit – which provides the first and second stages of Rokot – is taken from existing SS-19 missiles and is accommodated within an existing transportation/launch container. The third stage – which provides the orbital capability of the launcher – is newly manufactured.

This upper stage contains a modern, autonomous control/guidance system which controls all three stages. The upper stage multiple engine ignition capability allows implementation of various payload injection profiles.

Separation of the first and second stages is a “hot separation” – due to the fact that the vernier engines are ignited just before the separation. The exhaust gases are diverted by special hatches within the first stage.

After separation, the first stage is braked by retro rockets, then the second stage main engine is ignited. Like the first stage, it contains a common bulkhead and a hot gas pressurization system.

The Breeze-KM stage – which has now been adopted as the standard version of the third stage for the commercial version of Rockot – is a close derivative of the original Breeze-K stage flown during the first three Rokot flights.

It comprises three main compartments which include the propulsion compartment, the hermetically sealed equipment compartment and the interstage compartment. To allow larger satellites to be accommodated and to reduce dynamic loads, structural changes to the Breeze-K stage were introduced.

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The structure of the equipment bay of the original Breeze-K stage has been widened and flattened by redistribution of the control equipment.

The Rokot’s latest mission was military by nature, as such little is known about the payloads. However, the Rodnik satellites are believed to be a version of theGonets-M spacecraft.

The Gonets-M satellites – according to the Russian Space Agency – are intended to provide digital user terminal GLONASS positioning data, as well as electronic mail services. However, this is understood to be inaccurate, with Gonets-M having no role in the GLONASS operation.

The Gonets-M satellites are upgraded versions of the Gonets satellites, a derivative of the military Strela-3 satellite system. Rodnik satellites are believed to be the military version of the spacecraft family.

As with previous launches, a fourth – unnamed spacecraft – was also believed to be onboard. This fourth passenger may be the DOSAAF-85 spacecraft, a small satellite to test advanced technologies.

]]>Following from their Mars-500 “long duration” simulation in 2011-2012, the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow, Russia, has announced plans to perform an all-female simulated eight-day lunar circumnavigation mission by the end of 2015. The test and flight simulation project is called “Луна-2015” (Moon-2015).

A simulated lunar mission:

In early July, the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) announced it would use the facilities created for the marathon “Mars-500” simulation project in 2011/12. The new mission, Moon-2015, will simulate an eight-day round trip to lunar orbit and return to Earth.

Currently scheduled for October-November 2015, the experiment will differ from the Mars-500 venture not just in duration but most notably in crew composition.

For Moon-2015, all the participants will be women, drawn from the staff at IBMP itself.

In their July announcement, IBMP named the ten volunteers from whom the actual crew will be chosen.

All have strong scientific, medical or research backgrounds and many have worked in the space or aviation medicine sphere, working closely with cosmonauts before or after visits to the International Space Station (ISS).

IBMP was quick to emphasize that the project’s use of an all female crew does not signal a plan by the Russian Federal Space Agency, commonly referred to as Roscosmos, to select female cosmonauts for future lunar missions — though the project does carry the support of Roscosmos itself.

Nonetheless, IBMP will gather information on female responses to isolation, cohabitation, crew functionality, and other characteristics of spaceflight during the eight-day simulation.

Currently, Moon-2015 is planned to begin on 27 October, by which time the final group of six crewmembers will have been selected from the initial ten volunteers.

The crew of six will notably include a medical officer — a position that would be vital on long-term space missions.

To help chose which six of the ten volunteers will ultimately participate in the eight-day simulation, a series of selection processes based upon the real cosmonaut selection regime will take place in September and October.

In order to maintain the simulation’s value in terms of real-life application, the six volunteers selected for final participation will have similar medical, physical and physiological characteristics as a real space crew.

The potential crew:

Since the public announcement in July, several potential members of the simulation crew have discussed their qualifications and backgrounds for the mission with Tony Quine for NASASpaceflight.com.

A veteran of scientific research at IBMP, Kussmaul spent five years engaged in scientific research at IBMP before focusing on organizational and financial issues of scientific activity as well as implementation of scientific achievements in practice and international cooperation.

According to Kussmaul, “I think my experience in similar projects as a manager will help better organise the co-ordination of interaction with the ‘Earth’ and the skills acquired during the activity to promote scientific advances.”

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At 34, Dr. Elena Luchitskaya has worked at IBMP since 2005 in the laboratory of the autonomic regulation of the cardio-respiratory system.

Among her many accomplishments, Luchitskaya has been responsible for scientific experiments on board the ISS as well as managing pre- and post-flight inspection of Russian crew members.

“As a physiologist, [it] will be interesting to involve myself and to help in carrying out any scientific experiments and tests,” stated Luchitskaya.

Specifically, Luchitskaya’s work with “on-board documentation, experience with hardware and equipment on the ISS, [and] carrying out experiments” make her an excellent candidate for the simulated moon mission.

But IBMP is not just looking at veteran employees for Moon-2015. Several younger candidates are also under consideration.

In fact, one of the younger members of the potential crew is Mariya Maximova, a 24 year old with a master’s graduate degree in applied mathematics and physics.

Maximova, who is now an IBMP 1st year graduate student, is engaged in biophysics and cell biology, specifically the study of the role of the cortical cytoskeleton in cell mechano-reception and atrophic programs.

Asked about the most critical part of the Moon-2015 experiment, Maximova talked about the importance of preparations.

“Of course, the most critical part is the preparation, as with any experiment. If you prepare well and try to provide for the majority of emergency situations, everything else usually goes smoothly.”

Joining Maximova on the younger-side of potential candidates, Star Trek fan Daria Komissarova is 27 and an ecologist.

Komissarova took part in experiments related to the development of the heterotrophic part of biological life-support systems and defended her PhD dissertation in June 2015.

At present, Komissarova works as a senior research scientist in IBMP and talked enthusiastically about the potential of Moon-2015 and her own hopes.

“As my scientific work [is] connected to biological life-support systems of spaceflights, it will be very interesting for me to test all from within an enclosed space.

“Firsthand experience could be helpful for me in further development of biological life-support systems,” stated Komissarova.

“As for my input in the project, considering that I am a biologist, it will be much easier for me to both be a part of the crew and help in organization of biological research, included in the scientific program.”

To Komissarova, “all parts of the project seem very important. Crew selection, the experiment itself, after-flight research are all equally significant.

“The main goal of the experiment is [the] imitation of [a] flight to the Moon. With such a goal, great responsibility rests on our crew.”

Potential for acceptance to cosmonaut program:

While IBMP has clearly stated that their all-female experiment in no way indicates preference from Roscosmos to choose female cosmonauts in their next round of cosmonaut selection in early 2016, both Maximova and Komissarova expressed qualified interest.

As Maximova explained, “On the one hand, it would be desirable. On the other hand, in front of cosmonauts are so many important tasks that my studies of molecular biology, which I really love, would have [to wait]. So I’d be at a crossroads.”

Likewise, Komissarova stated that “Previously I hadn’t thought of any possibility to become a cosmonaut. But medical selection in ‘Moon-2015’ is very strict; it is very close to the cosmonaut selection criteria.

“To try my a hand through this project is very interesting for me, and perhaps, if everything shapes up well, I will move forward.”

Unlike Komissarova and Maximova, Kussmaul and Luchitskaya will both be over the age limit of 33 for 2016’s cosmonaut selection round.

However, two other potential Moon-2015 participants took the chance to throw their hats firmly into the ring for cosmonaut selection in 2016.

Inna Nosikova, born in 1986 in the town of Kaluga region Medyn, stated “Of course I want to be a cosmonaut, and I will definitely take part in the cosmonaut selection of 2016.”

Nosikova was an ambulance paramedic in Moscow while studying full-time to become a biophysicist.

“I believe that in orbit, my medical and scientific skills would be useful for the development and conducting of medical experiments in weightlessness,” Nosikova went on to state.

Particularly, Nosikova has worked at IBMP since 2014 and is currently engaged in trans-cranial magnetic stimulation of the motor areas of the cerebral cortex, along with devices using MRI to study changes in the activity of the cerebral cortex in astronauts before and after flight.

In addition to Nosikova, 25 year-old Natalya Lysova, a specialist in Physical Culture and Sports, is currently engaged in the prevention of adverse effects of weightlessness on cosmonauts during spaceflight.

Lysova stated that she has “already passed the initial cosmonaut medical examination and [plans] to apply formally to the new selection in 2016.”

“I’ve had the desire to become a cosmonaut since my first months of being at IBMP, working directly with cosmonauts, and being infected by their passion for spaceflight.”

]]>The Russian Progress M-28M cargo ship has successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) following its launch on a Soyuz-U rocket. The mission returned the Progress to flight following a previous failure that exacerbated the Station’s logistical constraints, further impacted by the recent CRS-7 failure.Progress M-28M – Its Importance:

This mission is likely to be classed as the most important in the Progress’ long career.

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Although ISS managers have been quick to play down concerns relating to the Station’s supply levels – mainly thanks to a large amount of contingency planning – there is little doubt this Russian resupply vehicle needed to enjoy a smooth delivery of its cargo to avoid undesirable conversations into the size of crew compliment for near-term expeditions.

The concerns are specific to an unprecedented number of Loss Of Missions (LOM) events.

The Cygnus – at no fault for the failure – was carrying 2,215 kilograms (4,883 lb) of cargo, which included 727 kilograms (1600 lb) of scientific equipment and 748 kilograms (1650 lb) of food and supplies for the crew.

Despite the loss of all three vehicles, the ISS has several months of key provisions available to its crew.

ISS managers have noted that a successful arrival of a Progress vehicle will add around one month to the supply levels of vital logistics such as water and food.

This latest Progress rode to orbit on the Soyuz-U carrier rocket from the PU-5 LC1 ‘Gagarinskiy Start’ (17P32-5) launch complex at the famous Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The switch back to the Soyuz-U removed the main concern relating to the Progress M-27M loss, given that it has since been noted the failure was specific to the Soyuz 2-1A.

The mission also saw a return to the traditional rendezvous timeline after it became impossible for Progress M-28M to rendezvous with ISS using a four-orbit profile without changing the launch date.

This is due to ballistic reasons, given the ISS could not provide a necessary phase angle between ISS and Progress during this current period.

During free flight, the vehicle performed two burns of the spacecraft propulsion system to establish a phasing orbit.

According to the calculations done by the trajectory specialists, the docking of the logistics vehicle with the Pirs docking compartment (DC) of the ISS was automatically performed during the 34th orbit.

As such, the Progress arrived at the Pirs docking compartment in the early hours of Sunday, bringing with it more than three tons of food, fuel and supplies.

]]>Three more crewmembers have completed a fast rendezvous trip to the International Space Station on Thursday. Commander Alexander Samokutyaev – along with NASA Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore and Elena Serova, the first Russian woman to travel to the Station – successfully arrived in their Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft, albeit with just one solar array deployed, following launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Soyuz TMA-14M:

Wilmore, Serova and Samokutyaev will serve as flight engineers for ISS Expedition 41 until November, at which time Wilmore will assume command of Expedition 42.

The trio will take up residency at the orbital outpost until they are scheduled to return to Earth in March, 2015.

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Via what is now a well-practised procedure, the improvement to the transit time was initially demonstrated on a number of Progress resupply missions.

The desire to dock to the ISS after just six hours of flight stems from the fact that spending two days in the cramped interior of the Soyuz along with two other crewmates is known to be a stressful and uncomfortable time for astronauts and cosmonauts, many of whom suffer from symptoms of space sickness at the same time.

Thus, being able to go from the ground to the ISS in a single day is a big advantage to Soyuz crews.

Such a fast rendezvous was never attempted until recent years as it requires extremely precise orbital adjustments from the ISS, and extremely precise orbital insertion by the Soyuz-FG booster, which was only deemed possible following a major review a few years ago.

That study proved such accuracy was achievable with the existing Soyuz-FG booster and modernized Soyuz TMA-M series spacecraft.

Following the launch of the Soyuz FG rocket – along with a successful orbital insertion shortly thereafter – the Soyuz TMA-14M was immediately be tasked with performing the first two engine burns on its first orbit of the Earth, which are pre-programmed into the Soyuz’s on-board computer prior to launch.

In what is believed to be a very rare event, the port Solar Array did not deploy. The spacecraft still docked nominally despite this condition.

Further burns, such as Dv3 and Dv4, were able to correct booster performance discrepancies, had they been required.

With all priority tasks proceeding to plan with this latest mission, the second orbit allowed for additional orbital parameters to be uplinked from a Russian Ground Site (RGS), ahead of a further eight rendezvous burns that were performed over the following five hours of flight.

During this time, the Soyuz crew were able to unstrap from their Kazbek couches and enter the Orbital Module (BO) to stretch their legs and use the bathroom facilities.

The Soyuz TMA-14M then entered the vicinity of the ISS to aim for a docking to the Poisk module of the Russian segment of the station. This was completed at 10:11 pm Eastern.

With hooks and latches securing the Soyuz firmly to the ISS, leak checks followed. At around 11:55 pm Eastern the hatches between the Soyuz and the station opened.

They were greeted by Expedition 41 Commander Max Suraev of Roscosmos, as well as Flight Engineers Reid Wiseman of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (ESA).

Somewhat to the surprise of the crew and controllers, the port array then decided it would deploy on its own, likely due to the mechanical shock of docking.

US EVAs on the ISS are currently postponed until the new batteries could be sent uphill to the Station. Two more batteries are riding up on Thursday’s Soyuz mission.

The requirement to ship replacements to the ISS came after ground testing revealed an issue that resulted in a loss of confidence across the set of batteries currently being used in the operational EMUs.
(Images via NASA, Roscosmos and L2).

]]>Expedition 40 cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev successfully concluded a flawless spacewalk on Monday, focused on science experiments placed on the exterior of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). The EVA – designated RS-39 – began at 10:02am Eastern and was concluded over one hour ahead of schedule.

Skvortsov was designated as extravehicular (EV) crew member 1 and was wearing the Orlan suit bearing red stripes. Artemyev was designated as extravehicular EV-2 and was wearing a suit with blue stripes.

Following a humorous conversation about trying to contort themselves into position, in order to reach the hatch handle, the cosmonauts egressed and climbed out of the airlock to the EVA ladder.

There they performed the first task, which was the deployment of a small satellite.

The satellite is called Nanosatellite-1 (NS-1) – but is also sometime referred to as the Peruvian CubeSat Chasqui – weighing just 1.5 kilograms.

NS-1 is capable of transmitting images and telemetry back to Earth. It arrived on the Station during a recent Progress resupply mission.

After deploying the nanosatellite, the EVA team moved to retrieve the Expose-R experiment from the airlock before translating to the Zvezda service module plane II.

There they installed the experiment on a universal work platform, via the mating of two connections, followed by confirmation of good telemetry from ground controllers. Expose-R is a part of a series of experiments that investigate the influence of space conditions on organic material.

The US EVAs – two of which were planned for this month – were recently put on hold.

The postponement came after ground testing revealed an issue that resulted in a loss of confidence across the set of Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Long Life Batteries (LLBs). This issue has no commonality with the Russian EVA suits.

It is understood the LLBs riding up on the Dragon will return the Station to a compliment of working EMUs for the EVAs to be rescheduled, while additional spares are likely to be launched on the next Cygnus spacecraft.

]]>Two Russian cosmonauts, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, ventured out into the vacuum of space for a spacewalk on Thursday, tasked with carrying out important work – including the installation of an antenna – on outside of the International Space Station (ISS) Russian segment. The initial work proved to be frustrating for the cosmonauts, until they pressed on and completed all their required tasks.

Objectives:

The primary objectives of the spacewalk were focused at servicing the exterior of the Zvezda service module and the experiments mounted in that location.

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The cosmonaut duo were tasked with installing an automated phased antenna array (AFAR), which will serve as part of the Russian command and telemetry system.

Artemyev and Skvortsov also relocated a part of the Obstanovka experiment – which is used to monitor the presence of charged particles and plasma in the environment of Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Other tasks included verifying the correct installation of the universal work platform (URM-D), taking samples from one of Zvezda’s windows, and jettisoning an experiment frame.

Timeline:

The two Expedition 40 members – Skvortsov and Artemyev – donned their Orlan spacesuits and exited the Pirs airlock for what was planned to be a 6 hour 26 minute excursion. In the end, it lasted an hour longer.

The extra-vehicular activity (EVA) was designated EVA-38 and was the 180th spacewalk in support of the station.

Once Skvortsov (designated EV-1) and Artemyev (EV-2) egressed Pirs, they picked up the AFAR antenna block with them and translated along a series of handrails to the installation location between planes II and III on the service module’s large diameter section.

This proved to be troublesome, with one of the three pins requiring the alternative solution of a wire tie to secure it. This caused a large amount of frustration, with one of the cosmonauts sounding angry/upset over the communication loop, while breathing very heavily. The duo were told to take a break shortly afterwards.

After they installed the antenna block to a pair of handrails, the cosmonauts connected the antennas to the service module by mating cables to five connectors located inside a protective box on the installation site. By then, the duo were 40 minutes behind schedule.

A functional checkout by Mission Control Moscow followed.

With the antenna work completed, the spacewalkers translated along Zvezda’s hull to the Obstanovka experiment. Artemyev and Skvortsov moved one of the experiment’s blocks further aft along the rails on which the experiment is installed.

This task was concluded well ahead of schedule, allowing the spacewalkers to catch up on their timelines.

Skvortsov then took samples of Zvezda window number 2 to determine the condition of the porthole.

The next task on the cosmonaut’s EVA timeline was a checkout of the URM-D universal work platform, where the commercial Earth observing cameras were installed during the previous Russian EVA.

The EVA crew assessed the overall operating status of the platform and tightened screws as necessary.

The final task was deferred from one of the previous spacewalks.

This involved the cosmonauts removing a payload boom from the MPAC&SEED experiment frame and installing the boom on a handrail.

They demounted two experiments from MPAC&SEED – TMTC and SVPI – and then installed the experiments on the payload boom. Finally, they removed the now-unoccupied experiment frame and jettison it away from the Station.

Spacewalkers:

Although Skvortsov had already enjoyed one long duration stay on the ISS – while Artemyev had participated in development of the current version of the Orlan spacesuit – this was be the first spacewalking experience for both cosmonauts.

In order to be told apart from each other on the video feed, Artemyev wore a suit with red stripes, while Skvortsov’s Orlan had blue stripes on it.

Following a positive experience from recent Russian EVA’s, both cosmonauts wore HD cameras on their wrists to record their exploits on the outside of the Station.

]]>A Russian Dnepr rocket launched a record-breaking thirty-seven satellites on Friday morning local time, deploying a cluster of spacecraft for scientific research and commercial operation. The mission departed on schedule from Dombarovsky in Southern Russia at 01:11 local time (19:11 UTC on Thursday).

Dnepr Record Breaker:

With thirty-seven satellites aboard the Dnepr, Friday’s launch saw the record for most spacecraft launched by a single rocket broken for the fourth time in less than a year.

Deimos-2, KazEOSat-2 and Hodoyoshi-3 and 4 were the main payloads for what was the twentieth Dnepr launch.

Built by South Korea’s SATREC Initiative for Deimos Imaging of Spain, the Deimos-2 satellite follows on from the smaller Deimos-1 which launched in 2009.

Based around the SI-300 bus, Deimos-2 has a mass of around 300 kilograms (660 lb). It will be used for high-resolution Earth imaging; it’s EOS-D imager is capable of producing pictures at resolutions as high as 0.75 metres (2.5 feet).

KazEOSat-2, which was previously known as the Medium Resolution Earth Observation Satellite, or DZZ-MH, will be operated by Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary, the main contractor to the space programme of Kazakhstan.

Built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited of the United Kingdom, KazEOSat-2 is based upon the SSTL-150+ satellite bus and carries a camera which can image the Earth at resolutions of up to 6.5 metres.

The 185 kilogram (408 lb) satellite will complement the larger and higher-resolution KazEOSat-1, which was launched by Europe’s Vega rocket in April.

The University of Tokyo’s Hodoyoshi-3 and 4 are prototype remote sensing satellites.

With masses of 60 and 66 kilograms (132 and 145 lb) respectively, Hodoyoshi-3 carries two cameras with resolutions of 40 and 200 metres (131 and 656 feet), while Hodoyoshi-4 is equipped with a single, more powerful, instrument providing a resolution of 6 metres (20 ft) per pixel.

The spacecraft are also equipped for further technology demonstration, and store-and-forward communications.

The other payloads on the Dnepr include AprizeSat-9 and 10, which will be used for commercial communications. The ownership of these satellites is not entirely clear; they were built by SpaceQuest, who will operate them for the early phases of their missions.

Once operational, the two twelve kilogram satellites may be transferred to exactEarth or retained for operation by SpaceQuest. They are the eleventh and twelfth satellites in a series which was originally named LatinSat.

BRITE-Toronto and BRITE-Montreal, also known as BRITE-CA 1 and 2, are the fourth and fifth members of the six-satellite Bright Star Target Explorer (BRITE) constellation, a joint venture between Canada’s Universities of Toronto and Montreal, Austria’s University of Vienna and the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The two satellites launched on Friday form the Canadian part of the constellation, although the University of Toronto were responsible for designing all six satellites and manufacturing most of them. The final BRITE satellite, Poland’s Heweliusz, is scheduled to be launched atop a Chang Zheng 4B rocket from China later this year.

The BRITE programme is aimed at studying variations in the amount of light coming from the brightest stars visible from Earth. The Canadian satellites are identical apart from the filters used in their telescopes; Toronto’s satellite will use a red filter to study the lower-energy end of the spectrum, while Montreal’s will study light with shorter wavelengths using a blue filter.

BugSat-1, which will be operated by Argentina’s Satellogic S.A, is a 22 kilogram technology demonstrator. Intended to demonstrate a medium-resolution camera in addition to UHF and C-band communications systems, the satellite will be made available for amateur radio users at the end of its primary mission.

Saudi Arabia’s SaudiSat-4 spacecraft will be used to study whether a phenomenon called the photoelectric effect, which causes metals to emit electrons when exposed to ultraviolet radiation, can be use to cancel out electrical charges which build up in satellite components over time.

The 100-kilogram (220 lb) satellite was built by the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in association with NASA’s Ames Research Center.

TabletSat-Aurora was developed by Russian company Sputnix. A 25 kilogram (55 lb) spacecraft, the satellite will be used to test the TabletSat-2U-EO bus upon which it is based. In addition, the spacecraft will observe the Earth, returning images with a resolution of up to 15 metres (49 feet).

The UniSat-6 satellite, of Rome’s La Sapienza University, is a technology demonstration mission which follows on from last year’s UniSat-5 mission. Like UniSat-5, UniSat-6 carries CubeSat dispensers however it lacks the PocketQube deployers flown on the previous mission.

Four CubeSats are expected to be deployed from UniSat-6 at a later date. AeroCube-6 is an American technology demonstration satellite which will be operated by The Aerospace Corporation. Intended to test a new CubeSat bus, it is a single-unit satellite with sides of 10 centimetres (3.9 in), which will collect data on radiation levels in low Earth orbit.

It is joined by Lemur-1, a prototype Earth-imaging satellite for NanoSatisfi Incorporated, also of the United States. The three-unit CubeSat carries visible-light and infrared imagers, however its primary objective is to demonstrate how the satellite bus functions under operational conditions.

A three-unit CubeSat, TigriSat, is the first satellite to be launched for Iraq. Built for the country’s Ministry of Science and Technology by Iraqi students working at the La Sapienza University in Rome, TigriSat will be used to monitor dust storms in Iraq.

Iraq previously claimed to have launched a satellite in 1989, however this was discredited after footage of the rocket exploding during first stage flight surfaced. Analysts have also determined that it was unlikely to have been an orbital launch attempt in any case.

Antelsat, the fourth satellite to be deployed from UniSat-6, will be Uruguay’s first spacecraft. It is a two-unit CubeSat, which will be used for amateur radio, Earth observation and to advance Uruguayan satellite technology.

In addition to the CubeSats aboard UniSat-6, twenty-one more will be deployed from the Dnepr itself.

DTUSat-2 is a Danish satellite being launched for the Danmarks Tekniske Universitet. It will be used to aid studies of bird migration by relaying data from GPS trackers attached to the birds. Duchifat-1 is a single-unit CubeSat which will be operated by Israel’s Herzliya Science Centre.

The spacecraft has served as an educational project and once in orbit will be used to test location determination, with the satellite returning data on its calculated position to be plotted onto maps on the ground.

Eleven Flock-1c spacecraft will be launched for Planet Labs’ Flock constellation. Earth imaging spacecraft, each three-unit CubeSat is equipped with cameras capable of producing photographs at resolutions of up to three metres.

NanoSatC-Br 1, a single-unit Brazilian spacecraft, is based on a kit purchased from ISIS. The spacecraft carries a magnetometer to study the South Atlantic Anomaly, an area where the Van Allen belts are unusually close to the Earth’s surface exposing satellites to greater radiation levels than would otherwise be expected at those altitudes.

The Platform for Attitude Control Experiments (PACE) CubeSat will be used by Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University to test an attitude control system, returning data on how the satellite’s orientation changes as it attempts to manoeuvre. By studying its performance, the satellite’s operators hope to be able to develop better attitude control systems for small satellites.

Perseus-M 1 and 2 are the first six-unit CubeSats to launch, with dimensions of 30 by 20 by 10 centimetres (12 by 8 by 4 in). The satellites will be operated by Russia’s Dauria Aerospace, having been constructed by Dauria’s American subsidiary Canopus Systems. Each spacecraft carries an AIS receiver intended to collect data on the position and status of ships at sea.

Ukraine’s PolyITAN-1 will be operated by the country’s National Technical University. It is intended to demonstrate that Ukraine can conduct a CubeSat mission and study the performance of the satellite’s single-unit bus in orbit. POPSAT-HIP-1 will test attitude control and imaging systems for Singapore’s Microspace Limited. It is a three-unit CubeSat.

The last two CubeSats, QB50P1 and QB50P2, form part of the QB50 programme which aims to launch and operate a constellation of fifty small satellites for scientific research. These two demonstration satellites will be operated by Belgium’s von Karman Institute with contributions from other institutions.

QB50P1 carries an Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer, an attitude control experiment, a thermocouple to monitor the spacecraft’s temperature and FUNCube-3, an amateur radio payload for the Dutch branch of AMSAT. QB50P2 carries the same attitude control system and thermocouple, combining them with a French amateur radio system and the FIPEX experiment for the Technical University of Dresden, which will study the oxygen flux in the satellite’s environment.

Converted from the R-36 missile, the Dnepr is a three-stage rocket which incorporates the two stages of the R-36MUTTH, with the missile’s post-boost module converted to act as a third stage and satellite dispenser.

The R-36 originally served as an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering an 18 megaton nuclear warhead, although later versions were equipped to carry up to ten Multiple Independently-Targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs), each armed with a nuclear device.

Another variant, the R-36O, was designed to place its warhead into orbit, and then deorbit it onto a target anywhere in the world.

This was subsequently banned under an international treaty in 1979.

The Dnepr made its first launch in April 1999, when it deployed Britain’s UoSAT-12. Among the other payloads it has launched on previous missions are the two Genesis demonstrators for Bigelow Aerospace.

Launched in 2006 and 2007, these prototype inflatable space station modules paved the way for the work Bigelow is now doing on inflatable space habitats and an experimental module for the International Space Station.

Friday’s launch marked the Dnepr’s twentieth flight, with only one of its previous missions ending in failure. That came in July 2006, when a first stage hydraulic failure brought down a cluster launch which had been carrying eighteen satellites.

The Dnepr launched from a silo at Site 370/13 of Russia’s Dombarovsky launch site. The first stage did not ignite until the missile is clear of the silo, with ejection being accomplished by means of a gas generator at the aft of the vehicle which separated shortly after ejection is complete.

The first stage was powered by four RD-263 engines, while an RD-0255 powers the second stage and an RD-869 powered the third. The payloads were enclosed within a Gas Dynamic Shield, which protected them from the exhaust of the third stage, in addition to a regular payload fairing.

This shielding is necessary because, due to its missile heritage, the third stage flies backwards with the payloads mounted on the same side as its engine nozzles.

Spacecraft separation occurred while the stage was still firing, with the satellites ejecting from the back of the rocket. Once separation was complete, the stage continued to burn to remove itself from the operational orbit.

The Dnepr launch was the thirty-fourth orbital launch of 2014, and the first to make use of a Dnepr. The Dnepr’s next launch is scheduled for no earlier than August, with five satellites including Japan’s Hodoyoshi-1 and Asnaro-1.

Russia’s next launch, in early July, will see a Proton-M orbit a Luch communications satellite. This will be a return-to-flight mission for the Proton, which suffered its ninth failure in ten years in May.

]]>The launch of a Soyuz 2-1B from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome – lofting another Russian GLONASS -M satellite – caught the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) by surprise this weekend, as European astronaut Alexander Gerst grabbed his camera and took photos of the satellite ascending during powered flight.

Russian Launch:

The Russian GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System – operated by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces – is the only alternative to the US GPS fleet in operation that has global coverage of comparable precision.

Development of GLONASS began in the Soviet Union in 1976. By the turn of the this decade, GLONASS had achieved 100 percent coverage, with the full orbital constellation of 24 satellites operational in 2011.

Saturday’s launch of another GLONASS-M went to plan, however. With the satellite – designated number 55 – lofted uphill by the Soyuz 2-1B and its Fregate Upper Stage.

“According to the telemetry received from Glonass-M N55, the satellite is in good health, all its mechanical subsystems have deployed normally, Sun and Earth acquisition have been performed as designed,” noted a post launch release from ISS Reshetnev.

The company – which provide GLONASS’ launch and satellite services – went on to note this latest satellite is also providing some experimental testing of a new frequency band.

“Glonass-M 55 was put into the third orbital plane to provide positioning services from its orbital slot N21. The Glonass-M N55 satellite is equipped with the experimental payload capable of transmitting signals in the L3 frequency band.

“The experiment will include flight testing of the new equipment and evaluation of the accuracy characteristics.”

The launch uphill was also spotted by the crew of the ISS, as the mission proceeded towards its 12,000 mile destination. The entire ascent phase required three burns of the Fregate, resulting in a 3.5 hour mission.

“Looks like something launched into space yesterday over Russia, possibly a GLONASS Sat from Plesetsk,” noted Gerst on Sunday from the orbital outpost.

]]>Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskyi ventured outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday to install two commercial Earth-observing cameras on the exterior of the Russian Zvezda service module. The cosmonaut duo enjoyed varying levels of success, with one camera still suffering from telemetry issues.

Kotov and Ryazanskyi first installed a foot restraint to help them stabilize themselves at the biaxial pointing platform.

Then, they installed and connected the high resolution camera, which was followed by installation of the medium resolution camera.

After the cosmonauts finished routing power and data cables along Zvezda’s hull and connecting the cables to the camera platform, controllers in the MCC in Moscow (MCC-M) proceeded with activation of the two cameras.

However, they discovered they were unable to receive telemetry from the cameras. Without telemetry, the controllers had no way of telling if the cameras were receiving power.

As discussions and attempts to activate the cameras went on in MCC-M, the spacewalkers continued with the planned tasks of the EVA. Finally, MCC-M controllers, along with the camera engineers, decided to uninstall the cameras and bring them inside the ISS for troubleshooting.

The rationale for returning the cameras inside the ISS related to the fact that the camera’s internal heaters would not function without power, exposing the cameras to the extreme temperature differences of the day and night side of the station’s orbit.

This led to deferring the remaining tasks to a later EVA, so that the cosmonauts had enough time and consumables to bring the cameras back inside.

In the weeks following the EVA, RSC Energia and MCC-M – with the help of the Russian crew – conducted troubleshooting of the problem, which was eventually attributed to a cabling issue inside the ISS.

“On January 2nd, the crew found a badly docked cable connector inside the Zvezda module,” noted source information in L2’s RS-37 section. The source information also noted that the only way to verify that the issue is resolved is to connect the cameras on the outside.

The EVA crew egressed the Pirs airlock at 8:00 central time. They first retrieved the two cameras from the airlock and took them with them to the Zvezda service module.

On the service module’s plane IV is a universal work platform, called URM-D, on which the biaxial pointing platform (DPN) is installed.

The crew re-installed the high resolution camera on the DPN, and the medium resolution camera on the URM-D base. Both cameras were classed as in good health and providing telemetry to the ground. However, the MRC then began to suffer from some connection issues.

Following some work with the connections, Russian controllers opted not to conduct any additional actions on the camera during this EVA. Troubleshooting will continue via ground teams, with the spacewalkers told another EVA won’t be required.

The Russian duo also worked through the tasks that were deferred from EVA-37.

This included the removal of a cassette container (SKK2-SO) which exposes different material samples to the space environment, from the Pirs module, returning it back inside.

After these primary objectives were completed, the crew conducted a photo survey of the exterior of the Russian segment, prior to the conclusion of the EVA after six hours and eight minutes.

This was Kotov’s 6th and Ryazanskyi’s 3rd EVA, the third for the pair during Expedition 37 and 38. Both were wearing Russian Orlan suits, with Wireless Video System cameras borrowed from the US segment installed on their helmets.

The rest of the Expedition 38 crew remained inside the ISS, but are separated, as the transfer compartment between Zvezda and Zarya had to be sealed in case the spacewalking crew ran into problems with the Pirs airlock – an issue that could have potentially resulted in them having to use the backup airlock – Poisk.

Mike Hopkins who arrived on Soyuz 36 with the spacewalkers, was isolated in the Soyuz for the duration of the EVA.

]]>The Russian Proton-M launched the Ekspress-AM5 communications satellite at on a multi-hour flight to a geostationary orbit via its Briz-M Upper Stage. The Russian workhorse launches from a snowy Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:49 UTC on Thursday.

Proton-M Launch:

The Proton booster launching the satellite was 4.1 m (13.5 ft) in diameter along its second and third stages, with a first stage diameter of 7.4 m (24.3 ft). Overall height of the three stages of the Proton booster is 42.3 m (138.8 ft).

The Proton vehicle has a heritage of nearly 400 launches since 1965 and is built by Khrunichev Research and State Production Center, one of the pillars of the global space industry and the majority owner of ILS.

The first stage consists of a central tank containing the oxidizer surrounded by six outboard fuel tanks. Each fuel tank also carries one of the six RD-276 engines that provide first stage power.

See Also

Powered by one RD-0213 engine, the third stage develops thrust of 583 kN (131,000 lbf), and a four-nozzle vernier engine that produces thrust of 31 kN (7,000 lbf).

Guidance, navigation, and control of the Proton M during operation of the first three stages is carried out by a triple redundant closed-loop digital avionics system mounted in the Proton’s third stage.

The Briz-M upper stage is tasked with the bulk of the flight, with separation not expected until 20:12 later on Thursday.

The Ekspress-AM5 satellite has a mass of 3,200 kg and sports 30 C-band, 40 Ku-band, 12 Ka-band, 2 L-band transponders and is expected to have a service life of 15 years. It has 284 kg of xenon and 75 kg of hydrazine for its onboard propellant needs.

Express-AM5 is the first satellite built around ISS-Reshetnev’s heavy-class Express-2000 platform. It was manufactured under a contract with the national operator RSCC (Russian Satellite Communications Company).

The spacecraft is intended to provide digital television and radio broadcasting services across Russia, mobile presidential and government communications, multimedia services (telephony, video conferencing, data transmission, Internet access) as well as solutions based on VSAT network technologies.